Day 32 - 7/10 - Backwards Slack

Caribou Valley Road (196.7) to ME 27 - Maine Roadhouse Hostel (188.4)

Great breakfast at the Maine Roadhouse

Today was a backward slack-packing day. As I was having breakfast when Jen, one of the two Jens that run the hostel, offered an 8-mile slack pack. That seemed just about perfect, as it would give me plenty of time in the afternoon to deal with my gear and resupply. There was already a group of hikers going to Caribou Valley road, so I decided I would just join them and go north for the day, back up to ME 27, where I stopped yesterday. Then the idea is I’ll start from the same place tomorrow and keep going south.

I had a nice morning hike over Crocker Mountain and got some good views at the top of Sugarloaf Mountain, which is where I’ll be heading next.

Organizing my gear

On the descent, I hiked with two guys who had also stayed at the hostel and did some interviews while we walked. I’m so used to hiking alone it felt a little weird trying to adjust my pace to other people, but it is also really nice to have a conversation as I walk instead of just listening to a podcast. Once I got back to the hostel in the afternoon, I got some lunch and figured out my gear and food for the next few days.